ERB tests??

[Anonymous]

what if the entire class at an independent school witholds tuition until school data is made available at least to the parents. Seems like leverage.

[Anonymous]

I don't think this would happen despite the minor discomfort of lack of ERB performance transparency at these schools. Most parents and students are fairly savvy and their are other surrogate markers for, at the very least, the quality of the student body (e.g., PSAT, SAT, AP exam performance, Mathcount and other creative writing, science and computer programming awards). Knowledgeable individuals can read between the tea leaves and school PR show.

[SAM2]

I'm sure every school is different in how it releases ERB data. But my understanding is that almost all schools give each student's parents a report on how their child scored on the ERB. The report will show how the child scored against various national norms, and often against the independent school norms. The ERB people have a list online of the various norms they routinely calculate for schools, and also indicate they can calculate local norms (for a fee, I assume). http://erblearn.org/schools/collaboration/quality-assessment/norms-and-scoring If you search online, you can find examples of the types of reports that schools will give. I think some schools will have presentations for parents, to explain how the reports are read, what they say about the school, and what they say about how your individual child is doing in school.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/108665105/The-ERBs_-The-Tests-That-Ate-the-School
http://issuu.com/columbusschoolforgirls/docs/erb_testing_slide_show_for_web
http://www.easthampton.k12.ny.us/PUB/CTPIII.pdf

From what I understand, most independent schools are pretty forthcoming with their students' parents about the ERB results. I gather many schools will not readily disclose information about how each individual child's ERB scores compare against the rest of her class, since that smacks of class ranking. However, I know that Beauvoir will disclose ERB results for all its students applying to NCS and StA, so I assume those schools can easily engage in a "class rank" analysis. https://www.beauvoirschool.org/ftpimages/224/download/Timeline%20for%202013%20Outplacement.pdf I'm not sure what other local schools require/disclose ERB results as part of the admissions process.

If there's any lack of transparency, it's that most schools don't seem to commonly circulate their school-wide ERB results to people who are not associated with the school. I'm not sure why that is. I could imagine some schools wanting to brag about their students' high ERB scores, to show they compare favorably with other school options. I can find a couple of examples of that online. http://www.powhatanschool.org/powhatan-news/powhatan-school-ranks-in-top-97th-percentile-in-vocabulary-erb-scores-released/ But such releases seem to be the exception. I'd guess it's because comparing different schools' ERB scores seems to be a pretty obsessive and perhaps short-sighted way of picking a school, and most independent schools seem to want to deter such inter-school competitiveness. Also, as some PP pointed out, if schools start engaging in admissions competitions over ERB scores, then the logical result is that schools will begin putting more focus on teaching to the ERB, which could piss off many current parents.

I suspect there might be some interesting broad based comparisons available somewhere of how different localities and school types compare on the ERB. But I don't have time or interest to look for those right now. If someone else is motivated, please post the results here.

HTH

[Anonymous]

SAM2 wrote:I'm sure every school is different in how it releases ERB data. But my understanding is that almost all schools give each student's parents a report on how their child scored on the ERB. The report will show how the child scored against various national norms, and often against the independent school norms. The ERB people have a list online of the various norms they routinely calculate for schools, and also indicate they can calculate local norms (for a fee, I assume). http://erblearn.org/schools/collaboration/quality-assessment/norms-and-scoring If you search online, you can find examples of the types of reports that schools will give. I think some schools will have presentations for parents, to explain how the reports are read, what they say about the school, and what they say about how your individual child is doing in school.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/108665105/The-ERBs_-The-Tests-That-Ate-the-School
http://issuu.com/columbusschoolforgirls/docs/erb_testing_slide_show_for_web
http://www.easthampton.k12.ny.us/PUB/CTPIII.pdf

From what I understand, most independent schools are pretty forthcoming with their students' parents about the ERB results. I gather many schools will not readily disclose information about how each individual child's ERB scores compare against the rest of her class, since that smacks of class ranking. However, I know that Beauvoir will disclose ERB results for all its students applying to NCS and StA, so I assume those schools can easily engage in a "class rank" analysis. https://www.beauvoirschool.org/ftpimages/224/download/Timeline%20for%202013%20Outplacement.pdf I'm not sure what other local schools require/disclose ERB results as part of the admissions process.

If there's any lack of transparency, it's that most schools don't seem to commonly circulate their school-wide ERB results to people who are not associated with the school. I'm not sure why that is. I could imagine some schools wanting to brag about their students' high ERB scores, to show they compare favorably with other school options. I can find a couple of examples of that online. http://www.powhatanschool.org/powhatan-news/powhatan-school-ranks-in-top-97th-percentile-in-vocabulary-erb-scores-released/ But such releases seem to be the exception. I'd guess it's because comparing different schools' ERB scores seems to be a pretty obsessive and perhaps short-sighted way of picking a school, and most independent schools seem to want to deter such inter-school competitiveness. Also, as some PP pointed out, if schools start engaging in admissions competitions over ERB scores, then the logical result is that schools will begin putting more focus on teaching to the ERB, which could piss off many current parents.

I suspect there might be some interesting broad based comparisons available somewhere of how different localities and school types compare on the ERB. But I don't have time or interest to look for those right now. If someone else is motivated, please post the results here.



Unfortuantely, we didn't get anything back from our school other than the results for a 6th grader - matt - 99% and verbal 98% - is there a web site I can go to assess what this means?

TIA

[Anonymous]

Got it.... But how does the school score nationally/ state wise for the curriculum? Grades high? ERB low? Doesn't compute for me. Would like to see the results for more than my DC.

[Anonymous]

Standardized tests. Private schools use them to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their curriculum. You'll get a breakdown that shows you your DC's scores, the scores of everyone in DC's grade at the school, and then medians for national, private school, and suburban public school (IIRC) students.

It's worth noting that there's a breakdown by subsections and you see not only percentile and stanine data for cohorts, but also the absolute numbers (e.g. DC correctly answered 6 of 8 questions asked on this subtopic). Note that in some cases the subtests have so few questions and scores in some cohorts are so high that even a perfect score won't put a kid in the 90th+ percentile of a private school cohort.

Private schools really use these instruments to counsel and weed out students...and not the politically correct mumbo jumbo one hears from them year in and out.

[Anonymous]

...However, I know that Beauvoir will disclose ERB results for all its students applying to NCS and StA, so I assume those schools can easily engage in a "class rank" analysis....

If the ERBs are really used to evaluate their curriculum why on earth would Beauvoir then turn around and release these results to another third party such as NCS and STA?

[Anonymous]

How stupid would you feel if you spent all this money and you found out that sidwell or maret or beauvoir does a worse job teaching than your local public school which is free.

Why would I feel stupid. Students make the school and in many instances it is not the teachers. Smart and studious students perform well on these tests simply ask any homeschooler nurtured at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

How stupid would you feel if you spent all this money and you found out that sidwell or maret or beauvoir does a worse job teaching than your local public school which is free.

Why would I feel stupid. Students make the school and in many instances it is not the teachers. Smart and studious students perform well on these tests simply ask any homeschooler nurtured at home.

Off track but . . . I have never met a home-schooled child that was not really unusual socially. Just not sure if it's worth it.

[Anonymous]

...then get out of your bubble